Everyone Grows Up Eventually
by Future Mrs. Grimes
Summary: 11 year-old Isabelle faces many changes and challenges when she joins the Atlanta group (I suck at summaries but its really good.. I promise).
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So I've kinda given up on my other stories.. I'm sorry.. I've developed as a writer since my other stories so this one will be the best. I promise. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Belle's legs were tired, she was out of breath, and her chest burned. She had very severe asthma and didn't know how much longer she could run. It didn't help that she was in skinny jeans, that were a couple of sizes too small. Her hair was in a messy bun and a few strands fell into her face. But she knew that if she stopped for even a second they would get her. There was at least five of them.

Belle had found a gun and tested it, the sound could have probably been heard miles away. She didn't think about it and kept walking, when she stopped to fill up her canteen at a fresh water pond when one of them fell on top of her. She didn't know what to do other than scream. All the noise attracted more so she dropped everything and ran, knowing that a backpack bigger than her would definitely slow her down.

She had run for what seemed like hours before she decided she could take a break. There was no sign of them so she started walking back to the pond where she left her backpack. It started getting dark so she walked even faster. She eventually came to the pond and saw her backpack, but more importantly she saw a strange man searching it.

"That's mine," she said very loudly.

He turned to look at her and she noticed he had blue eyes and grey hair, "Finders keepers."

"Please. That's all I have," she stated pleading with her eyes.

He shrugged and throw the backpack over his shoulder.

"Does it make you feel good to know you're practically killing an eleven year old?" she inquired.

Another man stepped out of the clearing, "Merle, what's taking your ass so long?" He paused when he saw her, "Who's this?"

The guy named Merle just shrugged and kept walking. She sighed and walled over to the mystery man. She suck out my hand and shook his, "My names Isabelle but you can call me Belle."

"My names Daryl. That's Merle," he pointed over his shoulder.

"I don't like him," she stated simply. "He stole my stuff."

Daryl sighed and stood up, she noticed how tall he was, well everyone's tall to her, she's only 4' 7". "Dude. Give her back her stuff."

"Why?" Merle asked. "She won't survive on her own. Then all this good supplies will be wasted."

"You're right," Daryl said nodding she gasped shocked he was agreeing with him, "she won't survive. She coming back to camp with us."

She smiled and started walking towards him but she tripped in a pothole and twisted her ankle. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes but she stood up, not wanting to give Merle another reason to think she couldn't handle myself. Daryl rushed over and scooped her up into his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked worryingly.

"Yeah, I'm good," she lied.

"No you're not, your ankles already swelling. Lets hurry up and get back to camp," and with that he set off with her still in his arms. She dozed off but was awoken by Daryl shaking her slightly and whispering, "We're here. Dales gonna patch you up and I'm gonna go tell Shane about you."

She nodded and he walked out, she guessed they were in some sort of RV and the old man wrapping her ankle was Dale.

"Hi, my names Isabelle, but call me Belle," she said quietly.

"Hello Belle, I am Dale," he said quite formally, he reminded her of her grandfather. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm eleven," she laughed.

"How long have you been on your own?"

"About two months now," she said deep in thought.

"Wow, I'm surprised a girl as young as you made it this far alone. Your ankles all better," he said patting it. "You can go outside, we have a couple of kids your age."

She smiled automatically when she heard there was other kids. She hadn't seen another kid since the beginning. She practically ran out the door and Daryl called me over to him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna play with the other kids!" Belle exclaimed bouncing up and down.

"Well, come talk to Shane first," they walked over to a guy with short curly hair and a big nose.

"Shane this is Belle, the one I was telling you about."

Shane got on his knees to get to her height, "Hi Belle, I'm Shane."

"Hello Shane," she said holding her hand out politely like her grandfather taught her.

He laughed and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Do you wanna go play with others?"

She nodded her head excitedly and ran towards where the other kids were playing. She slowed down and analyzed each one. There was two girls and two boys. The girls looked to be about her age maybe a bit older and had short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, the other girl looked Mexican and about her age maybe younger with dark hair and eyes, one of the boys looked about seven, maybe eight and she could tell he was related the Mexican girl, and the other was a little older than her. She processed him the most, he had beautiful blue eyes, short brown hair, and looked about 4' 11" maybe 5' 0".

He looked her way and smiled, she smiled back and walked over.

"I'm Carl," he said with a giant smile on his face, "that's Sophia, Eliza, and Louis."

"I'm Belle," she said smiling.

"Well Belle, we're about to play freeze tag. Wanna play?" the girl named Sophia asked.

"Sure!" She exclaimed.

"Okay. Carl's it," Louis giggled and ran away.

"Count to 20," Eliza said and they all ran away.

Belle went and stood next to the RV and waited for Carl to stop counting. When he finished counting he immediately spotted Louis and ran toward him. He tagged him and Belle ran from her spot and tagged Louis.

"Go!" she whisper yelled pushing him in the opposite direction of Carl.

She ran in front of Carl and stuck her tongue out at him. He looked back and saw Louis was gone. He ran towards Belle trying to tag her, she dodged his hand and kept running. She saw Eliza run to Louis and pull him into her hiding spot out of the corner of her eyes. She made a mental note not to lead Carl that way. Carl stopped and took deep breaths.

"Give up yet?" Belle laughed.

"Not in your wildest dreams."

"You sure? We could all use some water," she said not wanting to admit she was getting tired.

"Okay," he said and walked over to Shane to ask him where the water was.

"Guys, y'all can come out now," Belle called to the others.

Eliza and Louis came out but there was no sign of Sophia.

"Sophia!" Belle yelled as quietly as possible.

Carl came back and asked, "What's going on?"

"We can't find Sophia," Eliza explained. Belle walked over to the woods and beckoned Eliza, Louis, and Carl to follow.

"My mom said not to go in there," Eliza said holding Louis' hand.

"Then I'll go by myself," Belle said and started walking forward.

"Wait! I'll go with you," Carl said running to Belle. She nodded and they stepped inside the woods. They walked a couple of steps forward bit stopped when a bush a couple of paces ahead started rustling. Belle, instinctively, immediately grabbed Carl's hand. She stiffened and dropped her hand when she realized what she had done.

"Sorry," she whispered, suddenly becoming very interested with her untied shoelaces.

"Its fine," he said, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Um, we should get back. I don't think Sophia's in here," Belle chuckled nervously.

He nodded and they started walking back but not before Carl grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting it go again. She smiled and realized that she, Isabelle Marie Williams, had a, small but very existent, crush on, none other than, Carl Grimes.


	2. Chapter 2

"Belle!" Carl yelled. "Give my comic book back!" Its been almost a whole month since Belle joined the group and she was accepted with open arms. Everyone quickly learned that she talked a lot and played many pranks.

"Comic book?" she pretended to think hard. "I haven't seen any comic books. Have you tried looking in the RV?"

Carl sighed and walked in the RV a paper of the table read 'Getting cold. Hint: Try somewhere warmer xoxo - Belle'

He grabbed the paper from the table and stomped out the RV. He walked over to Belle's tent, unzipped the door, and climbed in. He looked around and saw a sleeping bag on the floor covered in a couple of pillows and a blanket, next to the bed was a lantern, a scrapbook, and a calendar book. He forgot all about his comic books and suddenly became very curious. He sat on the bed, turned on the lantern, and grabbed the scrapbook. He flipped through the pages and saw pictures of Belle as a baby all the way up until her 11th birthday. He smiled and laughed at the pictures until the last one, this one was of her and, who he assumed was, her parents. This picture had smudges and what looked like tear stains he closed the book feeling like he shouldn't have seen that. He sighed then grabbed the calendar book. Underneath July 21st someone wrote 'My birthday' he recognized it as Belle's handwriting and smiled. Belle's birthday was in exactly one week and he had an amazing idea. He ran out the tent zipping it on the way out.

When he got the RV people were volunteering to go for on a run with Glenn, when everyone cleared out Carl went up to Glenn and asked him if he could get a few things for Belle's birthday and when Glenn said he would Carl went and wrote a list to give to him.

* * *

"Hey Carl, did you ever find your comic book?" Belle asked smiling.

"No, but I had more important things to do anyway," Carl said standing up and walking into the RV.

"Like what?" She asked following him.

"None of your business," he snapped. Belle was taken aback for a second, Carl had never snapped at her before, not even when she accidentally gave him a nose bleed.

"Why are you being so mean?" she asked trying not to show how hurt she actually was.

"I'm tired if you playing games," he said trying to walk past her but she grabbed his arm.

"We're kids. That's what we're supposed to do."

"Not all the time. That's all you do. You act like a 5-year-old most of the time. It gets annoying. You get annoying!" his voice rose with every sentence until he was practically screaming.

Tears fell from Belle's eyes. "I see," she said in barely a whisper.

"Don't cry. I didn't mean that," he said trying to pull her into a hug. She pushed him away.

"If you didn't mean it you wouldn't have said it," she said her voice breaking and more tears falling.

"Belle," he whispered.

"Carl don't," she said shaking her head.

He tried pulling her into a hug again but this time succeeded. "Shh, don't cry. I didn't mean," he said rubbing her back. He pulled back a bit and wiped away her tears. She smiled slightly and Carl said, "I'm really sorry."

She chuckled and said, "It's fine."

"No it's not. I made you cry."

"It's fine, Carl. I promise."

"Okay," he said and kissed her forehead slowly. She smiled and stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek then scurried off to find Sophia. She found her sitting by the fire trying to read a book, Belle knew she didn't like reading, she mom was probably making her read it.

"What are you reading?" Belle asked sitting next to her.

"'The Fault In Our Stars'," Sophia answered and gladly stopped reading, "I don't understand any of it."

"2 things. 1: I love that book. 2: It may be a bit hard for you to really understand it."

"How do you understand it?" She asked turning to me.

"I'm, as the teacher and everyone used to say, 'advanced'. So pretty much I'm like a 22 year-old stuck in an 11 year-old's body," Belle chuckled.

"If you're so advanced why do you act so childish?"

"I didn't like being advanced. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be in normal 6th grades classes not 9th and 10th. I wanted people to stop expecting so much out of me. I wanted to be able to have a life outside of school. And now that I can I try and be as normal as possible, but I don't really know how to be normal. I've always been the outsider, the nerd, the overachiever, the teacher pet, the 'genius'. I've always finished my work in what takes normal people to eat breakfast," Belle explained. Sophia nodded and stood up.

"Come on," Sophia said.

"Where are we going?" Belle asked confused.

"I'm gonna teach you to be normal," and with that she ran off to the RV to get something and came back like 10 minutes later dragged a very confused looking Carl and holding a picnic basket and sheet, Belle mentally groaned and asked, "What is this?"

"A picnic," Sophia said laying down the sheet in a spot of grass behind the RV.

"And how is this gonna teach me to be normal?"

"Normal people go on dates with people they like," Sophia stated simply and motioned for Belle and Carl to sit down.

"And you think me and Carl like each other?" Belle asked.

"I don't think. I know," Sophia said as they sat down. She placed the picnic basket in front of them and walked away.

"I'm sorry about Sophia," Belle chuckled nervously.

He smiled slightly and Belle said, "You can leave if you want."

Carl shook his head, "No reason to waste food, plus Sophia obviously worked hard on this, might in well enjoy it." He started unpacking the picnic basket, there was 2 bottles of water, a giant bag of grapes, and a couple of oranges.

"Gotta love Sophia," Belle whispered.

"Why?" Carl asked.

She chuckled and picked up an orange, starting to peel it, "Oranges are my favorite fruit, I mentioned it to Sophia once."

"Really? Out of all the fruits in the world you pick oranges?" She nodded. "That's so boring."

"Ugh," She said and started throwing orange peels at him.

"Hey!" She laughed and he started throwing grapes. She kept trying to catch them in her mouth but was failing horribly.

"Remind me to never play catch with you," he said chuckling.

* * *

After about an hour or two the sun I gone down, all the food was gone, and Belle and Carl were laying on their backs looking up at the stars. Belle started shivering and scooted closer to Carl, he put his arm around her and whispered, "We should get going back to our tents." Belle nodded and slowly stood up, she grabbed Carl's hand and helped him up and he intertwined their fingers and started walking towards Belle's tent.

"Well this is my stop, " she chuckled nervously.

"Yeah."

Belle stood on her tiptoes and give Carl a hug and another kiss on the cheek.

"Night Carl."

"Night beautiful," he whispered but she didn't hear him.

* * *

I'**m gonna end this there. Hoped you liked it. I'm really enjoying writing this! So yeah. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm go to make this chapter extrrrraaa long. So guys do you like long, well thought chapters or quick, short chapter? Tell me in the reviews. :)**

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Belle woke up feeling refreshed and happy. She took off the shirt she stole from Carl and boxer shorts she picked up during run, and changed into her only outfit. She was going to have to ask Andrea to get her some clothes when she and the others went on the run. She brushed her hair and stepped outside.

She noticed Andrea helping Glenn getting everything ready to go on the run she walked over to Glenn and Andrea.

"Hey Andrea, I was wondering if you could get me some clothes," Belle said quietly.

"Yeah sure," she said smiling, Belle smiled back and handed Andrea a list that had belle's sizes on it, "Oh, and I heard you say something to Dale about it being Amy's birthday. Can you get her something for me?" Belle and Amy had gotten sort of close, Amy asked Belle about her and Carl many times, she considered her an older sister.

"That's so sweet. Of course," Andrea said smiling.

Glenn peeked his hand out of the car, "A little birdy told me that your birthday is coming up soon too, Belle."

"Um, yeah. It's fine though. I don't want anything," Belle said awkwardly.

"Okkaayy," Glenn said, "but we all know they Carl's definitely going to get you something."

Belle sighed, "I know."

Andrea and Glenn laughed and Glenn said, "We got to leave soon." She nodded.

"Belle!" Lori called. "School time!"

Belle sighed and walked over to where Sophia and Carl sat doing math.

"Mom, can I take a break?" Carl asked closing his math book.

"Sure, go help Belle get her books out the RV."

He nodded, stood up, and walked Belle's way, they walked to the RV and Belle attempted to get her books, which was on the top shelf. She couldn't get and Carl was doing his best not to burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Belle asked turning around.

"Nothing," Carl replied, reaching to grab the books above her, pinning her against the shelf. "Here you go," he said handing her the books but not making a move to unpin her from the shelf.

"Um, would you like to get off me?"

"Actually, no," Carl said smirking.

"Carl come on," Belle pleaded.

His smirk widened, she sighed, put both hands on his chest, and pushed but he didn't budge, "If you don't get off me I promise I will kill you later."

He moved out of Belle's way and said, "You've got 10 seconds." She grabbed her books and took off running, Carl chuckled and ran after her, not waiting to count to 10. She ran down the RV stairs and hide behind Lori who asked, "What's going on?"

"Your son's chasing me," Belle said still hiding behind Lori's leg.

Lori chuckled and moved out-of-the-way, "Well. You better run fast."

Belle screamed and took off running, she ran into someone, looked up, and noticed it was Daryl. "Daryl! Help me!" Belle exclaimed jumping into his arms.

"What's happening?" He asked confused.

"Carl's trying to get me," she said giggling into Daryl's chest. Daryl and Belle became very close over throughout the month she has been there, she saw him as a big brother, maybe even a father, figure.

"Well then, we better run," he said running and hiding behind the RV. Belle covered her mouth to stop her giggles when Sophia snuck up beside them. "Lori said that we could take a break," she said. Belle nodded and Carl called out, "Okay! I give up!"

"You have to apologize," Belle said standing up.

Carl walked over and got down on his knees begging, "Please, forgive me."

"You're so stupid, Carl," Belle said laughing.

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

She nodded laughing, he smiled, stood up, picked her up holding her in the air, and spinning her around. She giggled uncontrollably and Daryl and Sophia were whispering something and smiling. He put her down and wrapped his arms around her waist so she wouldn't fall over, she giggled even harder, and when her dizziness subsided she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Carl's nose.

"Why the nose?" he chuckling.

"I don't know," she said smiling.

"Okay then."

"Okay then."

"Okay."

Belle sighed, "Why need to get back to 'school'."

Carl looked around, "I don't know where my mom went."

She shrugged and walked over to Daryl, "Daaarrryl.. I'm hunngryy."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Daryl asked.

"Cook me some squirrel. Pleeasse?"

He sighed, "Only for you Williams, only for you."

"Yay!" She said and jumped into his arms, he stood up and carried her to the campfire. He sat down her down and went to go roast her the squirrel, "Thanks Daaarrryl."

"Hush, Williams," he said quickly. Belle chuckled and went to the RV to use the restroom when she was her walked toward the campfire and saw Carl eating her squirrel.

"Carl!" she yelled running over and grabbing her squirrel. "Get your own! Where'd Daryl go anyway?"

"Hunting," Carl said.

"Oh," Belle said taking a bite of her squirrel.

"Is it good?" Carl asked.

"You should know," Belle said while she glared at him, "you ate some."

He laughed and his mom said, "Carl it's time for your haircut." He frowned but walked over anyway, "I can give you one too Belle."

"That would be great!" Belle exclaimed and hopped up and ran over to Lori. Carl sat down and Lori began cutting his hair.

**"**Baby, the more you fidget, the longer it takes. So don't, okay?" Lori said.

**"**I'm trying," Carl whined.

**"**Well, try harder," Lori said and Belle giggled softly.

**"**If you think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings. That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts," Shane said smiling.

**"**I'll believe that when I see it," Carl said and Shane chuckled.

"I'll tell you what. You just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you and Belle something special. I will teach y'all to catch frogs."

**"**I've caught a frog before," Carl said.

"Me too," Belle chimed in.

"I said frogs. Plural. And it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I'm willing to share my secrets."

Carl and Belle looked at Lori unsure of what to say.

**"**Oh, I'm a girl. You talk to him," Lori said sighing.

"It's a one-time offer, bud. Not to be repeated."

**"**Why do we need frogs, plural?" Belle asked.

"You ever eat frog legs?" Shane asked.

**"**Eww!" Carl and Belle said in unison.

**"**No, yum!" Shane exclaimed and I made a disgusted face.

**"**No, he's right. Eww," Lori agreed.

**"**When you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. I can see it now. 'Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? Please? Just one?'" Shane joked.

"Yeah, I doubt that," Lori said smiling.

Shane chuckled, "Don't listen to her, man. You, me, and Belle we'll be heroes. We'll feed these folks cajun-style Kermit legs."

**"**I would rather eat miss piggy," Belle and Carl burst out laughing, "Yes, that came out wrong."

"Heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. You two and me, Shane, Carl, and Belle," Shane said laughing again they hear a car alarm beeping loudly.

**"**Talk to me, Dale!" Shane calls out since Dales taking watch.

"I can't tell yet," Dale called back.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy questioned.

**"**I'll be damned," Dale muttered looking through the binoculars.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"A stolen car is my guess," Dale replied.

A red sports car pulled in and Glenn hops out smiling like he had just won the lottery.

**"**Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled over the sound.

"I don't know how!" Glenn laughed.

**"**Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn hood, please," Shane said.

**"**My sister Andrea…" Amy muttered.

**"**Pop the damn hood!" Shane repeated.

"What? Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah!" Glenn yelled.

**"**Is she okay? Is she all right?" Amy questioned.

Glenn popped the hood so Shane could disconnect the battery to turn the alarm off.

**"**She's okay! She's okay!" Glenn told Amy.

"Is she coming back?"

**"**Yes!"

"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" She asked Glenn worryingly.

**"**Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much."

**"**Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every Walker for miles?" Shane asked.

"I think we're okay," Dale said trying to calm Shane down.

**"**You call being stupid okay?" Shane snapped.

**"**Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source. I'm not arguing. I'm just saying. It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Dale explained.

**"**Sorry. Got a cool car," Glenn said laughing.

Andrea got out of the truck, "Amy!"

"Andrea!"

Andrea ran up to Amy and hugged her.

"Oh my god! You scared the shit out of me," Amy said.

Morales got out of the truck and his wife and children ran up to him.

**"**Papi! Daddy!" Louis exclaimed.

"Hey. Come here, sweetie. Hey. I told you I'd be back, didn't I?" Morales asked.

Carl looks sad and Belle knows that he wishes that Rick would come back when the groups return.

**"**You are a welcome sight," Dale told Morales and hugged him.

"I thought we had lost you folks for sure," Dale said.

**"**How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked.

"New guy. He got us out," Glenn explained.

**"**New guy?" Shane questioned.

**"**Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town. Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello," Morales calls

Some guy in a uniform gets out of the truck.

**"**The guy's a cop like you," Morales explained.

The guy walked up and Shane was the first to see him. Carl and Lori turn around and they see each other.

"Oh my god," Rick whispers and Carl and Lori run to him.

_"_Dad! Dad!" Carl screamed.

Rick and Carl hug, crying.

**"**Carl. Oh!"

He kissed Carl on the cheek and approached Lori. He hugged them both. Shane was surprised to see Rick, but Belle can tell he's not as happy as he should be. He feigned a smile when Lori looked at him. Rick smiled at him and Shane smiled back.

* * *

**"**Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion. All those things but. Disoriented comes closest," Rick explained after dinner.

**"**Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short," Dale said.

**"**I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever," Rick said.

**"**Mom said you died," Carl said.

**"**She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it," Rick told Carl.

**"**When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened," Lori told Rick.

**"**Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell."

**"**Yeah."

**"**And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

**"**Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane interrupted.

**"**I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it," Rick said.

**"**There go those words falling short again. Paltry things," Dale piped up.

Ed put another log on his fire.

**"**Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked.

"It's cold, man," Ed argued.

**"**The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

**"**I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once."

Shane got up and walked over to Ed's fire.

**"**Hey, Ed… Are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?" Shane asked.

**"**Go on. Pull the damn thing out. Go on!" Ed commanded Carol.

Carol stood up but Belle spoke up, "I got it." Belle jumped up and grabbed the log out.

"Christ," Shane murmured

Shane stomped the flames out.

**"**Hey, Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening?" Shane asked.

**"**Fine. We're just fine," Carol answered.

**"**Okay."

**"**I'm sorry about the fire," Carol apologized

**"**No no no. No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?"

**"**Thank you."

**"**I appreciate the cooperation."

Shane comes and sits back down.

**"**Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind," Dale said.

**"**I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me," T-Dog said.

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine," Rick said.

**"**Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," Glenn butted in.

"I can tell him. He won't back mad at me," Belle suggested.

T-Dog shrugged me off, "I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him."

**"**We could lie," Amy suggested.

**"**Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's," Andrea said.

**"**And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise. We're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt," Dale said.

**"**I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it," T-Dog said.

**"**We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain, not that padlock. My point. Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us," T-Dog explained.

Everyone began clearing off until it was just Carl and Belle.

"You found him," Belle said forcing a smile.

"Yeah."

"You have both of your parents," Belle pointed out, "You're lucky. Most don't even have one."

"I know."

"Yeah."

"Where are your parents?" Carl asked.

"My mom's dead. Turned in the beginning. I don't know about my dad," Belle sighed and closed her eyes tears running down her cheeks.

Carl scooted next to her and pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine. I'm going to bed. I'm tired."

"Okay."

* * *

"Morning," Rick said climbing out of the tent.

"Morning. They're still a little damp. The sun'll have 'em dry in no time," Carol said motioning to the clothes on the line.

"You washed my clothes?" Rick asked.

**"**Well, best we could. Scrubbing on a washboard ain't half as good as my old maytag back home."

**"**That's very kind. Thank you."

Rick approached Glenn who is visibly upset that Dale tore apart some of the spare parts on the car that he brought in.

"Look at 'em. Vultures. Yeah, go on, strip it clean," Glenn said.

**"**Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn," Dale said.

**"**Thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days."

**"**Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday," Rick says patting him on the back.

Rick finally found Lori.

**"**Morning, officer," Lori said.

**"**Hey."

**"**You sleep okay?" Lori asked.

**"**Better than in a long time."

"Well, I didn't want to wake you. I figured you could use it. God. What?" Lori asked.

**"**I've been thinking about the man we left behind," Rick said.

"You're not serious."

Shane drove back to the camp with water.

**"**Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use," Shane explained.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Lori asked.

**"**Asking."

"Well, I think it's crazy. I think it is just the stupidest way to break your son."

Suddenly, the group heard screaming.

**"**Mom!" Carl screamed.

**"**Carl?" Lori screamed back.

Everyone started to race down to the screaming.

**"**It's over there!" One said.

**"**Dad!" Carl yelled.

**"**Baby!" Lori exclaimed.

"Mama! Mommy!" Eliza cried.

"Rick!" Glenn said.

"Carl!" Lori yells again.

**"**Over here, boy! Come on, come on!" The guy says again.

All the parents pull their children into their arms, except Belle. She stands there paralyzed with fear.

The group came upon a Walker that was busy eating the carcass of a deer. Andrea and Amy came up and notice how disgusting it was. When the Walker saw them, and started walking to the closest person, Belle. Belle screams and stumbles backwards landing on her butt. She pulls her legs to her cheat and Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim, and Morales started to beat on it with their objects. Dale finished it off by chopping its head off with an axe.

"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain," Dale pointed out.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim said.

They heard branch snapping and footsteps, Daryl Dixon came out of the forest.

"Oh, Jesus," Dale said.

**"**Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this, filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Daryl said kicking the deer.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping," Dale said.

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I would not risk that," Shane said.

Daryl sighed, "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Suddenly, the head of the Walker started to move its teeth.

"Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl asked shooting it with one of his arrows. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"

He suddenly notices Belle in a ball quietly sobbing he leaned down and picked her up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-It ca-ame after m-me," she sobbed.

"Shh, it's fine now. No ones gonna hurt you now," He soothed her.

"You weren't here. No one was protecting me. I had no one. Everyone was running to there family and I had no one."

Daryl turned around and glared at everyone. "I'm not gonna leave anymore, okay?" She nodded and Daryl put her down.

Everyone walked back to camp and Daryl yelled, "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

**"**Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you," Shane said.

**"**About what?"

"About Merle. There was a- there was a problem in Atlanta."

**"**He dead?" Daryl asked.

**"**We're not sure."

**"**No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick spoke up.

**"**Who are you?" Daryl asked.

**"**Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" Daryl asked.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl yelled.

"Yeah."

Daryl tries to attack him, but Rick shoved him off.

"Hey! Watch the knife!" T-Dog yelled.

Daryl pulled his knife out, but Shane was able to come up behind him and put him in a chokehold.

"Okay. Okay," Shane said.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl shouted.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

"Choke hold's illegal."

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day," Shane said.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asked.

"Hmm?"

"Mmm. Yeah," Daryl mumbles.

Shane let him go.

Belle ran over and helped him up. "Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded and wiped his face but she noticed the tears.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others," Rick said.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it," T-Dog said.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof. So the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori piped up.

"I'm going back," Rick stated Lori walked into the RV.

"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna walk off? Just to hell with everybody else?" Shane asked.

"I'm not saying to hell with anybody. Not you Shane," Rick said.

"Lori least of all. Tell her that," Shane said.

"She knows."

"Well, look, I-I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just-Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane asked.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully," Daryl said.

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst, me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being," Rick said.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked.

Rick turns to Glenn, "Oh, come on."

"You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask. I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too."

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane asked.

"Four," T-Dog said.

Daryl huffed, "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?" T-Dog asked.

"Why you?"

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language."

"That's four," Dale says.

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp," Shane said.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns," Rick said.

"Right, the guns," Glenn said.

"Wait. What guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori asked.

"Dad, I don't want you to go," Carl said.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand," Lori said.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him."

"What's stopping you?"

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah."

"So use the CB. What's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap… Date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars," Shane explained.

"I need that bag. Okay?" Rick asked.

"All right," Lori said.

Rick walked to Carl, "Okay?"

Carl nodded.

Daryl walks off and Belle follows.

"You said you weren't gonna leave again," Belle said quickly.

Daryl sighed and turned around, he got on his knees to get to her height. "I gotta go Belle."

"Something bad's going to happen. And you're not gonna be here. People are going to get hurt. Most likely me. I don't have anyone to protect me when you're gone," she whispered tears brimming.

"I'll make sure someone keeps you safe."

"I want to go with you," she said and crossed her arms.

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"The cities not safe," he explained.

"Then why are you going?"

"I gotta safe Merle!" he exclaimed.

"Why? You know that is the situation was reversed he would leave you there to die!" Belle yelled.

"No, he won't. I'm all he has left."

"You're all I have left too," she said tears falling freely.

"everything's gonna be alright. I'm gonna go get Merle and your gonna stay here and hang out with your little boyfriend Carl."

"He's not my boyfriend," she said in between sobs.

"Shh," he said hugging her, "I gotta get going." She nodded and he walked off, she went and sat beside Carl at the campfire. Shane walks up, "Wanna go catch those frogs?" They jumped up and walked towards him and they headed down to the quarry.

"I'm not getting anything," Carl said once they all got in the water.

"ME either," Belle said.

"Yeah. Being all wily, staying submerged. Little suckers, they know something's up. That's what's going on. Just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. All right, little man, and woman, look. You two are the- you two are the key in all this, okay? All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go after one of them, all right, scare the rest of them off. They're all gonna scatter. I'm gonna drive 'em y'alls way, okay?" Shane asked.

"All right," Carl and Belle said all the same time.

"What you need to do is you need to round up every bad boy you see, all right? Are you with me?"

"Yeah. Yeah," Belle and Carl said again.

"Hells yeah. Give me your mean face. Yes sir. Are you ready?" Shane asked.

"Yeah!" they said.

"Are you ready? Here we go, boy. Here we go."

Carl and Belle laughed as Shane splashes around in the water.

"All right, they're coming your way. They're coming your way. Go on, get 'em, get 'em. They're coming your way, come on. Catch them frogs. Catch them frogs. They're coming, little man! Get 'em! Get that net in there and get 'em! They're coming, little man! Get 'em! Get that net in there and get 'em! What have you got, bad boy? What do you got? What do you got?"

"Dirt," Carl said.

"Same here," Belle sighed.

"Oh boy. All right, we've got to start over. Come on, let's find this bucket."

Lori came down to the quarry, "Hey, Carl, Belle, what did I tell you about not leaving Dale's sight?"

"But Shane said we could catch frogs, remember?" Belle asked.

"It doesn't matter what Shane says. It matters what I say. Go on back to camp. I'll be right behind you."

Carl and Belle headed back up to the RV.

* * *

"Belle!" Andrea calls walking towards her. "I got you some clothes."

"Really? I thought you forgot about it. You know with all the drama and all."

"No I got it."

"Thanks," she said and took the bag. She walked to her tent and changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, a pink short sleeved top with a built in vest, her changed her socks and put on her new black combat boots. She brushed her blonde long hair and braided over her shoulder, she looked through the bag and saw that Andrea got her a pair of diamond earrings and a matching necklace. She put them on and looked at herself in her mirror that she found in the woods a while back, she smiled at her reflection, she looked pretty good, she poured some water in her hand and washed her face off. She walked out and to the campfire.

"You look pretty," Sophia said when Belle sat down next to her.

"Yeah. Andrea got me some clothes and stuff since I was running low," Belle explained.

"That was nice."

"Yeah. Sort of an early birthday present I guess," Belle shrugged.

"Birthday?"

"Yeah. I'll be 12 in 6 days," I said smiling.

"Well, happy early birthday," Sophia chuckled.

"Just don't tell Carl."

"Why not?" Sophia asked.

"He'd make a big deal about it."

"But it is a big deal."

"I don't like being the center of attention," Belle explained.

"Okay."

* * *

Jim was tied to a tree to protect him from hurting anyone or himself. Shane and Dale came up to him with some water.

"Jim, take some water?" Shane asked.

"All right."

"Yeah? All right. Here you go, bud."

"Pour some on my head?" Jim asked.

"Yeah. Cooling you down, huh?" Shane asked.

"Yeah. How long you gonna keep me like this?" Jim asked.

"Well, yeah. Until I don't think that you're a danger to yourself or others."

"Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl," Jim said.

"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you," Lori said.

"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asked.

"No sir," Belle replied politely

"Your mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all."

"Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Dale asked.

"I had a reason. Don't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" Jim asked Carl.

"They're not back yet," Carl said.

"We don't need to talk about that," Lori said.

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but, I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim asked, "There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that."

"All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane asked.

"Sweet. Come on, Sophia, Belle," Carl said.

Sophia, Carl, and Belle ran after Shane and Carol joined them.

"Stay with Carol, all right?" Lori tells Carl and Belle.

"You keep your boy close. You don't ever let him out of your sight," Jim told Lori.

Lori nodded in agreement and went to go join them.

* * *

Everyone was enjoying there fish when Morales said, "I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy.

"What?" Dale asked.

"That watch."

"What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked confused.

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass," Morales says.

"I've wondered this myself," Jacqui laughs.

"I'm missing the point," Dale said.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while," Jacqui pointed out.

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch," Morales says.

"Time, it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here. I like- I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'"

"You are so weird," Amy said and made everyone laugh.

"I think you're wise," Belle said.

Amy got up from the campfire and Andrea asked, "Where are you going?"

"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here," Amy said walking off.

Amy came out of the RV and asked, "We're out of toilet paper?"

When Amy stepped out, a Walker stepped right up to her and toke a bite out of her arm, she screamed in pain. Andrea witnessed this and screamed, everyone starts to scatter.

"Mom!" Carl yelled.

"Carl!"

"Lori, get him down!" Shane told Lori.

He grabbed his shotgun and shot several Walkers with it. Jim picked up a baseball bat and crushed a Walker's skull with it. Everyone toke cover and Dale picked up his rifle. Some people are attacked and bitten by Walkers. Morales grabbed a baseball bat and killed one of the Walkers with it.

"Carol! Belle!" Lori yells.

"Belle!" Carl screamed trying to get to her but Shane held onto him.

Belle was pushed down by a walker, it climbed on top of her. She held it at arms length, it kept snapping its mouth at her trying to bite her. Another one fell on top of her and she uses her feet to keep it from sinking its teeth in her. She arms started to get weak and wobbled. She closes her eyes and waits for the unbearable pain, but it never comes. She opens her eyes to see Daryl staring down at her.

"Are you bit?" he asked helping her up.

"No."

"Scratched?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Good. Now come here," he opened his arms wide. She ran to him, threw herself in his arms, and started crying. They stood there until Belle stopped crying them she stood up and walked to Carl.

"Belle," he said and walked forward giving her hug. She relaxed in his arm and he said, "Everything's gonna be okay. I got you now. You're safe." He rocked her back and forth. "Are you good now?"

She nodded and looked up at Carl. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips.


	4. Chapter 4

Carl pulled away quickly, "I am so sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Carl," Belle whispered.

"Yeah."

"You're fine," she said and kissed him on the cheek.

He smiled and she walked off to go find Sophia. Sophia was sitting at the fire playing with some stick and trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry about your dad, Sophia," Belle said sitting next to her.

"It's fine," Sophia turned to face her. "Is it bad to say I'm glad he's dead?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"The reason you're glad he's gone."

Sophia sighed and explained, "He used to hit my momma, and me sometimes. He'd come home drunk and would start hitting her. He wasn't as bad when all this started, I thought maybe he was getting better. But every night I heard my momma crying, I know she loves him, even after everything he's done. She deserves better and now that he's gone she can finally be happy."

Sophia's words echoed in Belle's head as she tried to fall asleep.

* * *

Belle woke up feeling even more tired than she did before she fell asleep. She stretched and climbed out her tent. She sees Morales and Daryl dragging the body of a dead camper toward the fire.

"What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there," she heard Glenn say.

"What's the difference? They're all infected," Daryl said.

"Our people go in that row over there. We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there!" Glenn exclaimed.

"But-"

"Daryl," Belle warned. If looks could kill Daryl would've died on the spot.

Daryl sighs and he and Morales dragged the body toward the digging hole.

"You reap what you sow," Daryl said.

"You know what? Shut up, man," Morales said shaking his head.

"Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming."

"Daryl. Just shut up!" Belle exclaimed and ran down to the quarry.

Daryl sighed and ran after her. "Belle!"

"Go away Daryl," Belle said.

"No," he said stubbornly and sat down next to her.

"Why do you act like such a dick, Daryl?"

"I don't know," Daryl sighed.

"You put up these walls and when someone comes along and tries to break them you push them away," Belle stood up and helped Daryl up. "Why do you do that?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Well, you need to stop," she said and walked off.

* * *

Jacqui and Jim were piling up bodies when Jacqui notices blood on Jim's shirt, "Are you bleeding?"

"I just got some on me from the bodies," Jim answered.

"That blood is fresh. Were you bit?"

"No. I got scratched during the attack," Jim said nervously.

"You got bit," Jacqui stated.

"I'm fine."

"Then show me," Jacqui said with her hands on her hips.

"Don't tell, please," Jim begged.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" Jacqui exclaimed.

Everyone crowded around Jim and he kept saying, "I'm okay. I'm okay."

"Show it to us," Daryl said.

"Show it to us!" Daryl repeated harsher this time.

"Easy, Jim," Shane soothed.

"Grab him," Daryl demanded.

Jim grabs the shovel of the ground and swings it around.

"Jim, put it down. Put it down," Shane said sternly.

T-Dog ran up and grabbed him, holding him while Daryl lifts up his shirt.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay," Jim repeated over and over.

* * *

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl said looking over at Jim.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."

"I hate to say it. I never thought I would but maybe Daryl's right," Dale spoke up.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick said.

"I'm not suggesting," Dale trailed off.

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked.

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be," Daryl said.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure," Rick suggested.

"I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane said.

"What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick acquired.

"Man, that is a stretch right there."

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection," Rick trailed off thinking.

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction," Lori said.

"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there," Shane said.

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance," Rick said.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl exclaimed running towards Jim with a pickaxe in his hands.

Belle ran towards Daryl putting her hands on Daryl's chest, pushing him back.

Rick pointed his gun at Daryl, "We don't kill the living."

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"Put the gun down," Belle said. Rick hesitantly obeyed and stepped back.

"Daryl, put the damn pickaxe down before you get hurt," Belle said and stepped back as he put down the pickaxe. "Go take a walk or something. Clear your head."

He listens and walks off as Belle went and sat down next to Andrea.

"I'm so sorry," Belle said.

Andrea nodded and they both sat there looking at Amy's lifeless body, Dale slowly sat beside Andrea and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I came to pay my respects. Did I ever mention how I lost my wife?" Dale asked.

"Cancer, wasn't it?" Andrea asked speaking for the first time.

"Yeah. I dragged her to every doctor, every test. And after all the surgeries and the chemos, she was ready. She accepted it, you know? But I never could. And I spent the last few years so angry. I felt so cheated. Since she passed, you girls were the first people that I cared anything for," Dale explained. "This is her birthday?"

"Her birthday was always like-like a week long affair. But I somehow always missed it. I was away at college or too busy for kid's parties. She'd call all excited. I always said that I'd make it home and I really always meant to, but I never made it past that phone call," Andrea sighed.

"I know things are hard enough for you without adding guilt into the mix, huh?"

Andrea hesitantly pulled out the mermaid necklace and wrapped it around Amy's neck. Belle slowly stands up the walks over to the RV. She slowly slid down the side and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her head on her lap. When she's sure no one cam see her she starts to cry, quietly at first, barely making a sound, but quickly turns into sobs that shakes her tiny frame and soaks her legs. She struggles to not make a sound and fails, eventually she gives in and is loud enough that almost everyone at camp make hear her.

Carl stopped mid-sentence and looked back at Belle.

"Carl?" Lori asked waving her hand in front of Carl's face trying to get his attention.

"One second," Carl said and walked over to Belle.

He sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. She stiffened at first but relaxed after a second, she let go of her legs and hugged him back. He pulled away and looked at her, a few lose tears fell farther down her face and he wiped them away. She smiles slightly and suddenly Amy began to stir on the ground and opened her eyes.

"Amy. Amy, I'm sorry," Andrea said as Amy reached for her, her eyes bloodshot, she moaned and pawed at the air. "I'm sorry for not ever being there. I always thought there'd be more time. I'm here now, Amy. I'm here. I love you."

Its oblivious she's a walker. Andrea sobbed and pulled a gun out and struggles to stay out of Amy's, she quietly apologized and shot Amy in the head end her life for the second time.

* * *

Rick and Shane dig graves near the campsite.

"Say it," Rick said out of breath from digging.

Shane stopped digging and said, "Okay. I'm thinking if you'd of stayed here, if you'd have looked after your own. Instead you went off. You took half our manpower with you. I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't have been so bad."

"If we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did, I think our losses would have been a lot worse. Maybe the entire camp," Rick said.

The truck approaches and Daryl gets out of it.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?" Daryl asked.

"At first," Shane said.

"The Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are," Daryl said obviously frustrated.

"There are no rules," Rick said.

"Well, that's a problem. We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do," chimed in Lori.

* * *

The survivors are left the quarry after a very emotional funeral.

"Burying other people is bad enough, but the thought of one of us…" Rick trailed off.

"Are we safe now, dad? Now that we're together?" Carl asked from beside Belle.

"I won't leave again. I promise you that. Not for anything. Now give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom, okay?"

"Yeah," Carl said taking Belle's hand and dragging her with him, "Come on, Belle."

Belle followed Carl to the RV and the sat at the table.

"What do you want to do now?" Carl asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "You're the one who dragged me here.

"That's true," Carl said chuckling. "How about we get to each other better. I've known you for like a month but I feel like I don't actually know you."

"Okay," Belle said. "My full name is Isabelle Marie Williams, I'm 11 years old, my birthday is July 21st. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother, London Adele Williams, she's 3, Olivia Harper Williams, she's 10, and Noah Michael Williams, he's 15. My mom, Phoebe, is 31, my dad, Elijah, is 34. I was a very lucky kid, my parents were together, and very much in love, us kids got only pretty well. Me and Olivia fought a lot, since we were the closest, ages and everything else. When everything started my dad and mom pulled us all out of school, we all packed bags and got in the car. We drove and didn't look back, we made a camp just out of city limits. We got overrun a couple of weeks later, my dad was bit trying to protect us, everyone, except my dad, survived. We found shelter in a small hotel room, my brother and I went on a run and left my mom with the girls. We thought the store we went into was empty but when I went in the back to see if there was more food, like, a dozen walker ambushed me. I ran out the store and hide I heard the car driving away a bit later. I went back to the hotel but they were gone, I keep trying to find them, searching every where we go but no luck."

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Belle and Carl heard Shane ask.

"We're, uh… We're… we're not going," Morales said awkwardly.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people," Miranda said saying what her husband couldn't.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane said.

"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family," Morales said.

"You sure?" Rick asked.

"We talked about it. We're sure."

"All right. Shane."

"Yeah, all right," Shane said.

"357?" Rick asked.

"Yeah."

Rick handed Morales a gun and Shane handed him ammo.

"The box is half full," Shane explained.

"Thank you all… For everything," Miranda said hugging Lori.

"Bye," Eliza said hugging a crying Sophia and Belle and handing them her doll.

"Channel 40 if you change your minds. All right?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Morales said.

Carol toke her daughter in her arms, "I know."

Morales, his wife Miranda and children went away.

"What makes you think our odds are any better? Come on. Let's go. Let's move out," Shane said.

Dale's driving his RV, while Jacqui took care of Jim, who was in pain, and Glenn's next to Dale. Rick's driving a car with Lori by his side, Belle, Carl, Carol, and Sophia in the backseat, Belle smushed in between Carl and Sophia, Sophia next her mom and Carl by the window followed by Shane's car, T-Dog's car with Andrea, and Daryl's car with a motorcycle in the back.

* * *

**I'm so sorry it took so long. I blame school. Hope you enjoyed. :)**


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